~ let me tell you a story

Warm winter weather

Well the Paris climate talks are going on, today the city was mostly quiet, as people have been asked not to take their cars to Paris. I figure they may as well get used to it – if you really want to make a change for the better for the climate, just don’t take your car. The TV channels were showing it live – and it looked just like most of the conferences I’ve been to – people looking for people they know, others looking lost, others looking bored, and most looking at their watches wondering when lunch will be served. But hopefully something good will come of the conference. Here is my efforts: Turn off the electricity – including unplugging all the thingys that work even when they are turned off. Turning the heat way down, and making sure it’s off at night and when we leave the apartment. Using my legs and bike as much as possible. Buying local produce, (OK, not coffee – or chocolate. Mea culpa.) Eating less red meat (I never buy it. That was easy. I only eat what my husband hunts.) We recycle plastic, paper and glass. We try not to buy new clothes, favoring thrift shop stuff (new clothes are very polluting), read ebooks (ink- chemicals! paper – dead trees!) I know it’s not perfect, and it’s not very much, but I am trying. And trying to be a better, more ecological person.

The weather is very warm. Here is a photo taken by my daughter in Paris – on the Alexander III bridge near the Grande Palace. The bridge is a fabulous art-nouveau, rococo extravaganza of sculptures and lights. But after the climate conference, maybe the lights should become solar power LEDs?